Deep in Indonesia’s West Javan rainforest, plants like ferns, marigolds and flowering pink cosmos, while beautiful, have rarely been seen as having economic value.

But a group of women working in a quiet conservation park in Citalahab Sentral, a small community inside Gunung Halimun-Salak National Park, aims to prove that protecting nature can go hand in hand with earning a living.

Calling themselves Ambu Halimun, which means “Mothers of Halimun” in Sundanese, they gather foliage that is rich in natural colours and tannins.

The flowers and leaves are used for ecoprinting, in which they are pressed onto fabric and steamed or boiled so the pigments transfer to the cloth.

Ambu Halimun stitches the intricately printed fabric into skirts, scarves and tote bags and sells them in global markets.

The women are carving out a sustainable livelihood from the rainforest through ecoprinting that does not require cutting down trees, hunting wildlife or degrading the fragile ecosystem.

But the effort is small-scale, with returns nowhere as big as those from more destructive ventures like mining and logging, and the group’s challenge is to grow into a large-enough force to have an impact in defending Indonesia’s nature.

Indonesia is a biodiversity powerhouse – home to a significant share of global flora and fauna, including about 17 per cent of the world’s bird species and 10 per cent of flowering plant species, according to United Nations figures.

Its rainforests shelter critically endangered species found nowhere else like orangutans, Sumatran tigers and Javan gibbons.

The rich biodiversity is under serious threat from deforestation driven by agriculture, mining and infrastructure, demonstrating the importance of ecoprinting.

The country lost 10.7 million hectares (26.4 million acres) of humid primary forest between 2002 and 2024, according to Global Forest Watch.

“The human population keeps growing, but land remains limited. These women will be on the frontlines of conservation because they now have the competence to protect nature,” said Rahayu Oktaviani, co-founder and director of the Javan gibbon conservation group Konservasi Ekosistem Alam Nusantara (KIARA).

Read the full article about ecoprinted fabrics, conservation, and sustainable livelihoods at Eco-Business.